The Nightmare
by Bmp14
Summary: Jennifer Jareau has always been known as stubborn... As someone who doesn't like to ask for help, but when she has a terrible nightmare, there is only one person she can think of calling.


It happened quite frequently, honestly, although it wasn't something she liked to blatantly admit. Jennifer Jareau had always been a _very_ hard headed individual, and her mother always said she had inherited that trait from her father, while her father argued the same thing right back. It was a never ending cycle in the Jareau household, due to the constant rebellious acts performed by the only child, and the perpetual bickering between the two authoritative figures, it was as though none of them could catch a break. Sandy blamed her daughter's tendencies to disobey their word on the fact that they had lost their oldest daughter, Rosaline, in what she seemed to refer to as a "freak accident". Every time JJ heard that term, her eyes practically rolled out of her head, and on multiple occasions she actually replied with, "Ah, yes, because slashing your own arms is _such_ a freak accident, right?" in front of the entire family, causing her to get grounded each and every time. It was insensitive, of course it was, but JJ had always had a proneness to speak her mind without even _beginning_ to think of the consequences. Maybe her aptness to speak out was why she had been so successful in the job she chose to pursue, and maybe that was the reason why the blonde woman had gone above her parent's word and applied for the FBI without a second thought.

Nonetheless, Jennifer Jareau wasn't one to admit defeat, and people closest to her knew that all too well, especially none other than Emily Prentiss. So when the older agent had received the call at two in the morning, she knew that something was obviously wrong. Every night before bed, Emily would tell JJ that she had her ringer on at _all_ times, and if she needed absolutely _anything_ at all, the brunette would be there in a blink of an eye. Both women knew that after Jennifer's abduction, the nightmares came very frequently, although the blonde would never admit such a thing. In fact, Emily most likely wouldn't have even know about the nightmares on any scale but, not long after the abduction and recovery of the small woman, her husband had made the decision to leave her. Not to anyone's surprise, Jennifer stayed strong through the whole ordeal, finishing her work with even more efficiency than before, travelling with the team more frequently, as well as voicing her opinions on cases that the team knew would normally have the blonde even the slightest bit upset.

Emily, however, was most surprised by the transformation made by her younger coworker. It didn't happen for quite some time although, when it did, the brunette didn't even have enough time to fully comprehend what was going on. Hotch had left a pile of case files on the edge of Prentiss' desk having asked her to take them up to Jennifer's office when she was finished reviewing them, this posing no threat to the experienced agent she had them done in about a half hour. As the exhausted agent made her way up to JJ's office, she could hear the unmistakable sound of the younger agent sobbing, and immediately Emily's heart sank. It hurt her to know that Jennifer Jareau was hurting but, as the weeks went on, they managed to grow closer and closer, more of Emily's nights being spent at JJ's apartment, or the blonde at hers. Soon, they were nearly inseparable, attached at the hip one may say, and throughout all of their time together, Emily learned how to read the young woman like a book. Although JJ refused to open up to the older woman, the brunette wasn't just going to play along with her mind games. When the blonde woke up in the middle of the night on nights when Emily stayed over, the agent was always there to pull the shaking woman onto her lap, to run her fingers through the smaller woman's blonde locks, and to hum softly in her ear, telling her that everything would be okay.

Jennifer would always wake up as though nothing happened on nights such as those, going about her morning and making pancakes with extra blueberry sauce, the exact way Emily liked them, which begged the brunette to wonder if the events of the previous night had even happened at all. It became somewhat of a routine after the first couple of weeks. JJ would fall into a series of bad nights, always begging for Emily to stay the night just this one time. The brunette didn't need much persuading, however it did worry her that the nightmares had such a negative effect over the small woman, knowing very well that nightmares weren't necessarily _good_ things and she had shared her fill of them, but she had never seen someone act so horribly after a nightmare in her life. Jennifer trembled, her blue eyes scanning the dark room frantically, and often the blonde would scratch frantically at her wrists as though they were still shackled to the roof of the musty smelling room. As terrifying as these acts were, however, Emily always had to prepare herself for the bloodcurdling scream that too often pierced the air, ripping itself from the hole in JJ's heart and leaching all of her pain into the air with one petrifying scream. In some cases, the older agent could manage to shake the younger awake just before the scream was released, causing Emily to sigh in relief once her partner had fallen back into her disturbed slumber, Emily's heart still thankful that she had caught her in time.

Knowing all of these facts about the small woman, and also knowing that the anniversary date of her abduction was approaching quickly, Emily literally had to force herself to attempt to sleep that night, fearing the worst for her damaged friend, constant examples of what _could_ happen flashing through her mind. It wasn't a secret that the small woman's sister had taken her own life, and somewhere buried deep in the back of her mind, Emily fretted constantly (especially after the abduction) that these thoughts would plague her partner's mind as well, driving her to a constant battle of morals inside of her pretty little head, leading to the inevitable insanity that they all knew too well. So as soon as Emily's phone rang the first time, she jolted upright, not even checking the caller ID before pulling the flip phone (she was much too technically challenged to own anything more than a flip phone) to her cheek and mumbling her sole word in a gravelly tone.

"Prentiss."

The brunette spoke, the palm of her hand finding and attaching first to her right eye before moving to the left one shortly after. It only took Emily a few moments to hear the frantic breathing on the other end, and the shuffling of bed sheets before she pieced together what was happening and immediately scrambled out of bed.

"Jenn? Jayje? Hey… Listen to me, okay? It's Emily… It's Emily… I'm on my way, honey, okay? I'm on my way…."

It actually took Emily a few minutes to calm the blonde on the other end down enough to hang up the phone, the brunette never stopping for a minute as she grabbed her go bag and headed out the door. The woman kept the phone pressed between her shoulder and her cheek as she drove, her chocolate brown eyes scanning the roads as she sped to the woman's home, parking and heading inside the apartment with the key that JJ had made for her. With no hesitation at all, Emily rushed her way to the bedroom, finding the woman shaking and huddled up in a ball, and she instantly scooped Jennifer onto her lap, her back resting against the headboard, and assumed normal position. Emily's hand embedded itself into JJ's mat of waves, softly toying with the blonde strands while she proceeded to set the other hand on the shaking woman's back, resulting in her tear stained face to be pressed against Emily's chest. The blonde was in quite a state, however, it doesn't take long at all for her to calm down once in Emily's arms, the humming that the brunette does vibrating from her throat against the top of JJ's head, which the exhausted agent found surprisingly soothing. There they sat, the previously trembling woman having gone limp in Emily's arms quite some time before the brunette managed to close her eyes, her hand still on Jennifer Jareau's back, the other in her hair, and the blonde's body molded against hers, almost as though they were indeed made for each other.


End file.
